Xbox One’s Original Xbox Compatibility Is Still Slated For 2017

“We’re close, we’re really close.”

While Microsoft’s E3 this year was about looking forward to the future of Xbox with the Xbox One, arguably one of the most exciting announcement that they made for long time fans was the confirmation of compatibility for original Xbox games coming to the Xbox One. When they announced it at E3, they confirmed that it would be coming this year.

However, ever since then, things have fallen silent on that front, and we have heard nothing more- leading many to speculate that the feature might have been silently pushed back into next year. However, speaking to Gamespot at the Brazil Game Show, Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed that the feature is still due this year.

“We’re close, we’re really close,” Spencer added. “I have a little dashboard I go to and I can see all the games [and] where they are in getting approvals in the pipeline. I know the games that are coming for the original Xbox but I don’t think we’ve announced them all. We have to do this in partnership with partners, but we’re still on track. I feel really good. The games look great.”

As of right now, only one Xbox game – Crimson Skies – has been confirmed for the service. That said, the original Xbox has a lot of fan favorite games, including Project Gotham Racing, Fable, Halo: Combat Evolved, Ninja Gaiden Black, The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, and Knights of the Old Republic, among others, that fans would doubtless like to play still without having to dig out their old consoles. Hopefully the feature is as extensive as it has been for the Xbox 360.